Weis' zeitgeist eternal

April 25, 2006

Charlie Weis changed the culture and image of Notre Dame football so much, so fast, that even Bob Golic didn't know quite how to put it into words. Not that Golic didn't try his verbose best, but he couldn't help but "sound corny." All four former Irish players serving as honorary coaches for the Blue-Gold Game took turns describing the transformation occurring under Weis. Jerome Bettis told a story about the 2005 AFC Championship game that his Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the New England Patriots. After the game, Bettis sought out Weis to offer any help he could to the new Notre Dame coach. "And believe me, he took me up on it," Bettis said. "He called me. He tracked down my number -- I don't know how he got the phone number -- but next thing I knew I was talking to Coach about coming back." When Bettis told Weis that a scheduling conflict prevented him from attending last April's spring game, the coach booked him for this one, locking him up over a year in advance. Aggressive, direct, persistent. Followers of recent Notre Dame recruiting news know Weis applies that style to his pursuit of prospects as well as his courting of legends to reconnect with the program. It culminated over the weekend in an Irish football fugue, a blend of past, present and future, with Weis as composer and conductor. Some of the notes might have been a little brassy for Notre Dame's normally understated tastes, but they were in tune with the modern realities of recruiting and the ultimate byproduct of that messy sausage-making -- winning. Shark Night. Jimmy Clausen -- Live! -- from the Hall of Fame. Bettis, the Brothers Golic, Rocket Ismail. A record crowd for a scrimmage, over 41,000 people convinced they had nothing better to do. All of that reflected the perfect pitch Weis has shown in his approach to coaching from the bully pulpit at Notre Dame. He maximizes every advantage at his disposal -- tradition, media attention, fan infatuation -- without relying on them to a fault or lamenting their suffocating effect. Packing all that, along with four Super Bowl rings and XXL self-confidence, he planned to leave town Sunday to do the legwork necessary to continue reclaiming Notre Dame from its status as a dated relic. "I've screamed from the highest mountaintop about this," Mike Golic said. "I've felt for a while that Notre Dame was letting basically the Dome recruit and it wasn't going after enough of the players and kind of letting the name speak for itself." Even with NCAA rules restricting him from saying a word about Clausen's commitment, Weis made a statement that reverberated from here to Heritage Hall. Despite the creepy undercurrent of a recruit announcing his school of choice at the College Football Hall of Fame, the concept captured the brazen new Notre Dame personality. Ismail meandered through his serpentine sentences Saturday to make the point that he could sense that different attitude last season even on television. "When I was watching the games last year, it was, the demeanor was very, regardless of the score, it was almost like you Jason Kelly Commentary "Not being frustrated when he gets out," Godwin said. "This game is a game of failure. You're going to fail seven out of 10 times, and you just don't want to beat yourself up about it. Staying positive mentally has probably been the biggest thing this year." That and hitting technique polished from a more looping swing -- but still pretty effective as Cooper's previous stats proved -- to a quick whip through the strike zone. It has transformed him into an almost robotic leadoff hitter, so reliable it's like someone just programmed to get on base. "I think Cliff Godwin has done remarkable things with him in terms of shortening up his stroke," Notre Dame head coach Paul Mainieri said. "Even though he had great years the last couple years, sometimes his swing got a little bit long and there were certain kinds of pitchers that could get him out. I don't think there's any kind of pitchers that can get him out now." Rutgers starter Sean Spicer discovered that Sunday in Cooper's first at-bat. With his more compact swing and commitment to composure at the plate, he drove an outside pitch to right-center for an opposite field home run. With as much patience as power, Cooper cut a swath through three Rutgers pitchers beginning with that tone-setting at-bat, adding two doubles, a single and a walk to his leadoff homer. "Usually I've been getting off to a slow start the last few years," Cooper said. "I focused a lot on coming out with a good approach this year and not letting myself get frustrated early in the season because you're going to take your lumps." Delivering the lumps rather than taking them, Cooper has hit himself into a different kind of mental burden -- carrying the thought of a record-setting hitting streak with him to the plate. If a streak at 21 games and counting weighs on his mind, it hasn't slowed his bat speed. "It could eat you up if you start worrying about it," Cooper said, so he just ignores it and continues feasting on pitches wherever the opposition dares to serve them up.